The present invention is concerned with preparation of deuteroserine used as an intermediate to prepare a fluorodeuteroalanine.
3-Fluoro-D,L and D-alanine-2d are known antibacterial agents. (See U.S. Pat. No. 3,956,367; U.S. Pat. No. 3,972,921; U.S. Pat. No. 4,031,231). Preparation of the non-deutero 3-fluoro-D,L-alanine from serine is known [(Isr. J. Chem 17, 53, (1978)]. No viable method of preparing 2-deutero-D-serine is available.
An efficient process for the preparation of 2-deutero-D-serine has been discovered and the serine has been selectively fluorinated to provide the aforesaid fluoralanine.